Showing titles in Society

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER #1 New York Times bestselling author Ben Shapiro examines the current state of America and Western civilization, and poses a question: will we be Lions, or will we be Scavengers? In a world split between noble Lions and destructive Scavengers, only the brave can...

To define 'progress' is to lay claim to the future. Seminal thinker Slavoj Žižek turns essayist to interrogate the competing visions which form the horizons of human possibility and ask: Can things, which have never seemed worse, get better? What would a better world be? And how, when we are...

Even the most reasonable of us can be selective about when we think reasonably. We may realize that the best thing to do is to take the advice of our doctor when facing a medical issue. When shopping for a new car or appliance we might carefully assess online reviews and weigh our options calmly before making an informed decision. But when it comes to things that feel more fraught, we might throw this approach out the window, dismissing facts and patterns that form a body of evidence, and trust our gut.

Global networks have formed "anti-gender ideology movements" dedicated to circulating a fantasy that gender is a dangerous threat to families, local cultures, civilization -- and even "man" himself. But what, exactly, is so scary about gender? In this vital, courageous book, Judith Butler, the ground-breaking philosopher whose influential work has redefined how we think about gender and sexuality, carefully examines how "gender" has become a phantasm for emerging authoritarian regimes, fascist formations, and transexclusionary feminists.

Byung-Chul Han is one of the most widely read philosophers in Europe today, a member of the new generation of German thinkers that includes Markus Gabriel and Armen Avanessian. In The Agony of Eros, a bestseller in Germany, Han considers the threat to love and desire in today's society. For Han, love requires the courage to accept self-negation for the sake of discovering the Other. In a world of fetishized individualism and technologically mediated social interaction, it is the Other that is eradicated, not the self.

Brought to you by Penguin. From the eminent philosopher, an authoritative exploration of the great questions of how to live 'There is a question everyone has to ask and answer - in fact, has to keep on asking and keep on answering. It is, 'How should I live my life?' meaning, 'What values shall...

The founder of the international Transition Towns movement asks why true creative, positive thinking is in decline, asserts that it's more important now than ever, and suggests ways our communities can revive and reclaim it.

At a time when we are all confronted by not one, but many crossroads in our modern lives - identity, technology, trust, politics, and a global pandemic - celebrated mythologist and wilderness guide Martin Shaw delivers Smoke Hole: three metaphors to help us understand our world, one that is assailed by the seductive promises of social media and shadowed by a health crisis that has brought loneliness and isolation to an all-time high.

With an apparently contradictory and characteristically makeshift term, ‘Liberal Fascisms’, Slavoj Žižek captures the paradoxical nature of political populism. To see this phenomenon as purely liberal and dictatorially fascistic is to expose liberalism and fascism as two sides of the same...

In this classic evaluation of play that has become a “must-listen” for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of Homo Ludens, or “man the player” through medieval times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization.

Brought to you by Penguin. We all notice when the poor get poorer: when there are more rough sleepers and food bank queues start to grow. But if the rich become richer, there is nothing much to see in public and, for most of us, daily life doesn't change. Or at least, not immediately. In this...

Violence and the Sacred is Rene Girard's landmark study of human evil. Here Girard explores violence as it is represented and occurs throughout history, literature, and myth. Girard's forceful and thought-provoking analyses of Biblical narrative, Greek tragedy, and the lynchings and pogroms propagated by contemporary states illustrate his central argument that violence belongs to everyone and is at the heart of the sacred.

Brought to you by Penguin. In this short sequel to his acclaimed memoir, the legendary filmmaker and global cultural icon explores one of his favourite topics: the nature of truth. What if a lie is told to reveal some underlying truth? Are feelings that seem inappropriate, such as the hysteria...

Over the past decades, a healthy appreciation for the culture and heritage of minorities has transformed into an obsession with group identity in all its forms. A new ideology - which Yascha Mounk terms the 'identity synthesis' - seeks to put each citizen's matrix of identities at the heart of social, cultural and political life. This, he argues, is The Identity Trap. Mounk traces the intellectual origin of these ideas. He tells the story of how they were able to win tremendous power over the past decade.

A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF 2024 'ACCESSIBLE AND CONVINCING' - SALLY ROONEY Capitalism by its very nature puts us at odds with the environment. Therefore, argues award-winning Japanese philosopher Kohei Saito, the future must belong to a new form of communism, the only fair and humane existence...

Linear and progressive views of history have dominated the popular imagination for the past seventy years in a worldview wedded to the inexorable rise of globalization and GDP growth at any cost. However, the end of the Cold War failed to produce the end of history as hoped, a fact brought home to many by Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

'Exceptionally interesting' Alain de Botton 'A book that will transform how you understand human behaviour' Thomas Erikson 'Insightful and entertaining' Cal Newport 'Fascinating ... You'll never again view your own world in quite the same way' Ian Stewart Can physics change your life? It already...

“Its theme is political fanaticism, with which it deals severely and brilliantly.” —New Yorker The famous bestseller with “concise insight into what drives the mind of the fanatic and the dynamics of a mass movement” (Wall Street Journal) by the legendary San Francisco longshoreman. A...

Brought to you by Penguin. 'In this thought-provoking book, Massimo Pigliucci shares his journey of discovering the power of Stoic practices in a philosophical dialogue with one of Stoicism's greatest teachers.' RYAN HOLIDAY, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE OBSTACLE IS THE WAY AND THE DAILY STOIC Who...

Bloomsbury presents Solidarity: The Work of Recognition by Dr. Rowan Williams, read by Niall Lucas. Celebrated thinker Rowan Williams explores the shared burdens and hopes that make solidarity possible. From its use as a rallying cry by the labour movement to its central place in struggles for...